The Philadelphia Union are only making a brief stop in town before heading off to San Jose, Costa Rica for three games in five days. On February 26, Philly throws down with Costa Rican league leaders Municipal Perez Zeledon. 22 goals in nine games will make for a nice test for the Union back line.

Next up is the U-20 Costa Rican National Team on February 28, and the trip winds up on March 1 with bottom feeders Belen, sitting on 11 points through 8 games. The Union will continue to train in Costa Rica until March 4.

Amobi Okugo, Jack McInerney and Freddy Adu have already bounced from preseason camp to join the U-23 USMNT in Dallas for today’s scrimmage.

Speaking of FC Dallas, in a recent interview coach Schellas Hyndman was asked if Chris Seitz is challenging Kevin Hartman for minutes. The answer is a classic:“There’s no doubt Chris is pushing Kevin but sometimes it’s kind of a correlation if you’ve got a bigger brother that’s always picking on you. What point of time do you stop him from picking on you? What Chris has to do is Chris has to step past that and say I want to be No. 1.”

ESPN’s Union season preview has yet to realize that the team didn’t lose Chase Harrison. Or that the team did lose supplemental round picks Tom Brandt and Brandon Zimmerman a mere two weeks before this preview was published. But don’t worry: Leander Schaerlaeckens did not forget that one of the three biggest stories for this year’s Union team is… whether Freddy Adu will leave. Wait, what? Featuring Adu doesn’t have anything to do with the puffy-puff puff piece that came out last November does it? Doooooes it? On Adu: “Although not the Union’s best player, Adu looked promising in his first 11 appearances for the club and now that he’s fit and settled in, he could be primed for the strong, complete season he’s never had.” I’m assuming this is the tertiary definition of “promising” that means “looks like he hasn’t played this sport in a while.” Also, why let a coach have the last word in every section of your season preview? He is paid to give you one side of the story. You are paid to cut through the spin.

As a junior, new Union signing Krystian Witkowski was spotted by Alecko Eskandarian when Marist played the University of Virginia. Eskandarian was there scouting Virginia players but remembered Witkowski. Union scouting continues to impress.

US

Bad news for Oguchi Onyewu. Knee surgery will interrupt his renaissance and sideline the big defender for two months. I’ve been down on Gooch for a long time, but it’s nice to be proven wrong when a guy works hard to get his career back on track. Here’s hoping for a swift recovery.

Steve Cherundolo needs to make one more 45 minute appearance for Hannover to have his contract automatically extended one year. The 33-year old is currently in the last year of his deal.

Tim Ream played in back as Bolton shut out Millwall in the FA Cup this weekend. Does that mean Ream is in line for a start against Chelsea on Saturday? Can you imagine the defensive hijinks with Ream, David Luiz and Gary Cahill on the field at the same time? (Sidenote on Cahill: Gary Neville’s comment when watching Cahill pretend to play defense on the Edinson Cavani: “I’ve seen milk turn quicker.”)

USWNT U-23 player Amanda Dacosta blogs about the tough environment playing with Team Borislow in 2011 and overcoming the sudden onset of Bell’s Palsy. Pretty impressive stuff from the young Florida State product.

Independence

Paul Riley will take part in an Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Sports workshop in Downingtown, PA on March 3. Get all the info here.

Author: Adam Cann
Adam played soccer for Haverford College and now writes about Philadelphia Union with the kind of tactical analysis rarely seen in the US. He believes soccer bars that don't open for the early game are not soccer bars. Follow him on Twitter @PSPadam. Email him at acann@phillysoccerpage.com.

Delicious, since I played the role of journalist with the ethics and what not. Holding onto that info for two months wasn’t the easiest thing to do and my source isn’t Divot, or else I would have cited him.

I enjoyed the Arsenal article. This team has really depressed me of late- it’s hard to be a fan of a team that says we’re selling our best players in order to make a profit. It’s also bad to have the best striker in the Premiership, a competent midfield, and a goofy back line. This cost them the Carling Cup last year.